Owners and Directors of children's summer camps, inns and resorts typically chose locations on or near the shores of natural bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, oceans etc. For purposes of this application, the term "lake" will be used to describe such natural or man-made bodies of water and shall be construed to encompass all types of natural or man-made bodies of water. Typical lakes are filled with either natural spring or ground water, surface water or salt water, have vegetation and other forms of aquatic life and have a lake bottom consisting of sediment, sand, rocks, etc.
Lakes are typically used at children's camps, inns and resorts as the center for all water and recreational activities, including boating, kayaking, sailing and swimming. It has generally been the practice to build docks in the lake to simultaneously provide a boundary for swimmable areas, a place to put slides, diving boards and other recreational swimming apparatus, and to provide a mooring for boats.
Due to the various life forms in the lake, algae and natural sediment or silt form on the lake bottom, causing it to be soft and mucky. During campers's use of the lake, the algae and sediment move around causing the water to appear cloudy. It has been found that campers, when walking and swimming in the lake, do not like the feel of the soft, mucky bottom or the look of the cloudy silty water. The cloudy water also makes it more difficult for lifeguards to observe and supervise swimmers.
Moreover, in recent years, camp owners and directors have been advised that over 50% of all families insist on sending their children to a camp that has a traditional swimming pool, i.e., a man-made pool of chlorinated and filtered water, because their children are used to them from their day-camps. However, traditional public swimming pools have been linked with health related problems and thus require constant pH monitoring and use of expensive filtering equipment and hazardous chemicals.
The present invention resides in the discovery that existing lakes may be modified to form a healthier and environmentally safe alternative to conventional swimming pools which also overcomes the above-described disadvantages of lakes. In the past, several camp owners and others have attempted to use wood and concrete or cement to create a safe and long-lasting bottom for their shallow lake water swim areas. However, the lakes's algae and other natural growth have made these modified lake bottoms slimy and slippery. Further, the wood bottoms cause splinters and the concrete or cement bottoms tend to crack when exposed to cold temperatures, i.e., in the wintertime.
Accordingly, it is a broad object of the invention to provide a modified lake floor which overcomes the problems associated with lakes and conventional swimming pools, and provides a healthier alternative to conventional swimming pools.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a flooring material and method for installing a flooring material onto the bottom of a lake to provide a swimming area having a comfortable walking surface which resists the accumulation of algae and other natural growth and sediment on the flooring.